Archive for the ‘suzanne weyn’ Tag

This week we’ve got three brand new books (just going on the shelves TODAY!) that all feature stories that are based on other stories. Remixing stories is kind of a popular thing for authors to do right now – for example Marissa Meyer’s Cinder which retells Cinderella as a sci fi dystopian tale. Some very cool things happen when authors pick up a favorite fairy tale or classic story and re-imagine it in their own way.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is no mention of Dr. Frankenstein having a family at all. I seem to remember there being a sister, perhaps, but no daughters.Like Kenneth Oppel in This Dark Endeavor, Weyn adds to the story of Dr. Frankenstein by giving him two unacknowledged twin daughters. After Frankenstein dies, the two girls make their way to his creepy castle to claim it as their inheritance. Told in a Gothic style similar to the original novel, this story unravels in a twisty turn-y tale of romance, mystery, and horror as the two very different twins become captivated by their father’s castle and their father’s madness. If you like Oppel’s Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series and the original horror story itself, you’ll want to read this one.

This is a retelling of the less-known Brothers Grimm tale of Bluebeard, a fierce but rich man who woos and brings home a young girl to be his next wife, but the young girl quickly discovers Bluebeard has deep, dark, murderous secrets hiding in his castle. In Nickerson’s retelling, Sophia Petheram is orphaned at 17, but unexpectedly invited to be taken in by her mysterious godfather. She accepts his invitation, having no other options, and lands at the lavish Wyndriven Abbey set deep in Mississippi. Things there seem pleasant, until Sophia begins to unravel the mysteries and see past the elaborate facades to the horrific secrets lurking at Wyndriven Abbey.